Plurality and Cultural

Diversity UNIT 3 BHAKTI AND SUFI MOVEMENTS IN

MEDIEVAL INDIA

Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Bhakti Movement in Medieval India
3.3 The Sufi Movement in India
3.4 Link between the Upanishads and the Quran
3.5 Bulleh Shah, the Sufi Mystic and Poet
3.5.1 Bulleh Shah, an Apostle of Peace
3.6 Kafi, a form of Sufi poetry
3.6.1 The Kafi Tradition
3.7 'Kafi 7' by Bulleh Shah
3.8 Analysis of the poem
3.9 Unity of Being: Meeting of Advaita and Sufi Philosophy
3.10 Let Us Sum Up
3.11 Aids to Activities
3.12 Glossary
3.13 Unit End Questions
3.14 References and Suggested Reading

3.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit introduces you to the Bhakti and Sufi movements in medieval India.
Medieval poetry in India is mainly devotional poetry and comprises poems of
both the Bhakti and the Sufi movements.
When you reach the end of this unit, you will have
learnt about the common features of the Bhakti and Sufi Movements in
Medieval India
got to know Bulleh Shah, the Punjabi Sufi poet
looked at the analysis of the poem “Kafi 7” by Bulleh Shah and
become aware of the link between Advaita Philosophy and the Sufi
philosophy.
Words in bold are explained in the Glossary

3.1 INTRODUCTION
As a sample of devotional poetry of the medieval period (belonging to both the
Bhakti and Sufi traditions), this unit will introduce you to four poets in the third
and the fourth units of this Block - Bulleh Shah (Punjabi Sufi), Baul Gaan (Bangla
folk singers), Mahadeviyakka, often referred to as Akka Mahadevi (Kannada)
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and Meera Bai (Rajasthani and Hindi). A reading of these poets will serve to Bhakti and Sufi Movements
in Medieval India
reinforce the concept of India’s plurality with the underlying bond of unity. The
common thread of love and devotion that imbues these poems can teach us like
nothing else can, that the richness of Indian culture is in its variety and diverse
traditions which yet remain undoubtedly Indian to their core.

3.2 THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN MEDIEVAL

INDIA
Let us first study the Bhakti movement , follow it up with a study of the Sufi
movement and then see the connecting link between both.

The Bhakti Movement started in South India (Kerala and Tamilnadu) in the 8 th C
and spread to the North and East India from the 15 th C and reached great heights
in the 17th C. The Bhakti movement that resulted in a profusion of devotional
poetry was a pan India movement, stretching from North to South, East to West
by the end of 17thC. Though the movement can no longer be discerned after the
17thC, devotional poetry continues to be a part of Indian literature.

Though the Bhakti movement started in the 8th C, the word ‘bhakti’ was first
used in the 1st millennium BCE, in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the Katha
Upanishad and the Bhagavad Gita. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is an ancient
Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajur Veda and it is the basic text in which Vedanta
philosophy, philosophy of Saivism and principles of Yoga have been delineated.
The last of three epilogue verses of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 6.23, uses
the word Bhakti as given under:

He who has the highest Bhakti (love, devotion of Deva (God),

just like his Deva, so for his Guru (teacher),
To him who is high-minded,
these teachings will be illuminating.
— Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.23 (on Guru Bhakti)
This verse is notable for the use of the word Bhakti, and has been widely cited as
among the earliest mentions of “the love of God”. Bhakti means an emotional
devotion to one’s personal God. Bhakti marg (the path of devotion) is one of the
spiritual ways to attain moksha or liberation, the ultimate goal of spiritual
development, a state of eternal bliss, transcending the worldly state. The word
Bhakti is used in the Bhagavad Gita to denote a particular way to reach moksha.

Activity 1
What is the importance of the Shvetashvatra Upanishad in the context of the
Bhakti movement?

The Bhakti movement swept across medieval India and most of the Bhakti poets
sang with loving devotion to Rama and Krishna, the incarnations of Vishnu.
This movement is significant as it not only produced great poetry, but it also
marked the beginning of a rebellion against the superficial Brahminical customs
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Plurality and Cultural and rituals, caste distinction and discrimination prevalent in society. The Bhakti
Diversity
movement spread all over India through the songs of Kabir, Ravi Das, Meera
Bai, Chaitanya and many other lesser known mystics. These saint-poets laid
emphasis on Man’s actions as these alone would lead to his salvation. They
were called the Bhakti poets where the Sanskrit term Bhakti as used in the ancient
texts denoted “devotion to, and love for, a personal god or a representational god
by a devotee”. The Bhakti poets sought to attain spiritual union with the Lord
through their devotion by means of their soulful poetry.

Activity 2
Make a list of illustrious saint-poets of this period. Try to access some of
their poetry in your mother tongue.

Let us take for example, Kabir’s Dohas which had a profound impact on the
Bhakti movement both as a social and a religious movement. As a social
movement, it had a great influence on the common man. Kabir’s simple message
of love and devotion as seen in the couplet given below had a mass appeal:

Pothi padh padh jag mua, bhaya na pundit koye

Dhai akhar prem ka padhe so pundit hoye

One does not become a pandit (learned person) by reading voluminous books,
but one can become one by understanding the two and a half letters which make
up the word ‘love’ (prem as written in Hindi).

Kabir between 1440 and 1518, Saint Ravidas in the 15th C and Meera between
1498 and 1557 were among the most influential poets of the Bhakti movement
with their twin messages that spoke of
i) a loving relationship between a devotee and his/her personal god and
ii) laid emphasis on devotion and individual worship of a god or goddess rather
than performance of elaborate sacrifices.
What this implies is that the Bhakti saint-poets had a liberal outlook and their
message focused on the devotee’s choice of his/her and personal God and the
freedom to worship in any way that was in consonance with their full devotion.
The Bhakti moment thus conveyed a social message to the devotees.

Activity 3
What was the message of the medieval saint-poets of India?

From the north, the Bhakti movement spread to the East pioneered by Chaitanya
Dev (1486-1534) who was revered as the greatest spiritual leader of Eastern
India (Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Assam) and as an incarnation of Krishna. In
Punjab, Guru Nanak founded Sikhism and he was influenced by poets like Kabir,
Ravi Das, Jaidev of Bengal, Namdev and Sufi Baba Farid. Thus the Bhakti
movement was widespread from Punjab to Bengal and from Maharashtra to the
Deccan. This shows how the Bhakti movement gradually permeated to the whole
of India. We had earlier noted that the Bhakti movement started in the 8th C in
South India.

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 Bhakti and Sufi Movements
Activity 4 in Medieval India
Why do we regard the Bhakti Movement as a pan India movement?

3.3 THE SUFI MOVEMENT IN INDIA

During the period that saw the rise and spread of the Bhakti movement, India
also saw the advent of Islam with the ascendancy of the Mughal empire that
lasted between the 16th and the 19th century. It started with the ascension of Babur
in 1526 and ended with the death of Aurangazeb in1707. Within fifty years of
Aurangazeb’s death, this large Mughal empire started disintegrating. With weak
successors to Aurangazeb, a near empty treasury, the rise of the regional princes
of various Hindu kingdoms and the arrival of the East India Company that
established the British rule, the Mughal empire came to an end. The last of the
Mughal emperors was Bahadur Shah who was deposed and deported to Rangoon
by the East India Company in 1757.

During the Mughal dominance, the Islamic religion of the conquerors remained
hostile to Hinduism and was critical of its polytheism (worship of many gods),
idolatry (idol worship) and practice of irrational rituals. With its focus only on
the externalities of Hindu worship, Islam failed to understand and appreciate the
core binding principle of Hinduism that accepted (and continues to accept and
adheres to) multiple faiths and varied forms of worship practiced by different
religions. It is this acceptance that forms the basis of the Hindu idea of universal
brotherhood. But as antagonism increased between the two religions and resulted
in mutual hatred and enmity, it was fortunate that there came a group of religious
thinkers belonging to the Hindu Bhakti movement and the Islamic Sufi movement
to bridge the divisiveness between the two religious orders and establish love
and friendship, feelings of fellowship and fraternity among all people. The Sufi
movement was a result of Hindu influence on Muslim religious thinkers who
undertook an in depth study of Vedanta and the philosophy of Buddhism and
Jainism, the two offshoots of Hinduism.

Activity 5
Why are the Bhakti movement and Sufi movements known as socio-religious
movements?

The Sufi movement came to India two centuries before the Bhakti movement
and spread among the Muslims. The Chishtiya Sufi order was established in
India by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in the 12th century. He died in 1230. After
his passing, his disciples carried the order forward, spreading his message of
devotion to God and sulhe-kul (compassion and love for all). Notable among
them were Hazrat Niamuddin Auliya and his famous disciple Amir Khusro (1253-
1325), the Sufi spiritual poet and musician who had a deep impact on the society,
literature and culture of India. Khusro is regarded as one of the champions of
India’s composite culture. He wrote many poems, ghazals, dohas, riddles and is
also credited with enriching Hindustani classical music by introducing Persian
and Arabic elements in it, and thus is known as the originator of the khayal and
tarana styles of music. He is regarded as the “father of qawwali” (the devotional
music of the Indian Sufis). The invention of the tabla is also traditionally attributed
to Amir Khusro and so also the sitar. Kabir was greatly influenced by Khusro
and some of his dohas are virtually translations of Khusro’s couplets. Other Sufi 31
Plurality and Cultural mystics were Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya and Hazrat Baba Farid, both belonging
Diversity
to the 13th Century.

Thus the 13th and 14th centuries saw the emergence and growth of the Sufi
movement in India. The Sufi movement as given above was a socio-religious
movement. The last Sufi of the Chishtia order and the last Sufi from Delhi,
Nasiruddin Chirag Dehli died in 1356. The Sufi message of suleh-e-kul had a
great influence on both the Hindus and Muslims alike. While some historians
claim the influence of Sufi on the Bhakti movement and others speak about the
reversal of influence – that of the Bhakti movement on the Sufi movement, there
is the established fact that compassion and sympathy for the downtrodden and
the poor stressed by both religious orders appealed to people of both religions.
Their message had a lasting impact in the collective psyche of the Indian masses.
It can therefore be said that the Sufi Movement from the 12th to the 14th centuries
and the Bhakti movement from the 15th and 16th centuries provided poetry the
highest degree of devotion and are unique in extending the respective religious
movements to inspire and articulate social messages.

Activity 6
What was the message of the two religious orders that had an appeal to the
masses belonging to both Hinduism and Islam?

3.4 LINK BETWEEN THE UPANISHADS AND THE

QURAN
To understand the link between the Sufi and the Bhakti movement, let us look at
a few of the important aspects of Hinduism related to Advaita philosophy in the
Svetasvatara Upanishad:
Na tasya pratima asti
There is no likeness of Him.

Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam.

His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye.

shudhamapoapvidham
He is bodiless and pure.

In the Quran, the main principle is that of ‘Oneness’. According to Islam, God is
singular (tawhîd), unique (wahid), the one and only one (ahad), and is all-merciful
and omnipotent. And according to the Quran, “No vision can grasp him, but His
grasp is over all vision: He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all
things.”
From the above it is clear that there are common links between the Quran and
the Yajur Veda where both speak of a god, formless and who cannot be seen with
human eyes and He is the one and only one - unique and singular.

Activity 7
Explain the common link between Islam and Hinduism as evidenced in the
Quran and the Vedas.
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 Bhakti and Sufi Movements
3.5 BULLEH SHAH, THE SUFI MYSTIC AND POET in Medieval India

Though there is no authentic record, it is an accepted surmise that Bulleh Shah

was born in 1680. He was a Punjabi poet of the Sufi Muslim order, born in
Bahawalpur, Punjab , which is now in Pakistan. His ancestors had migrated from
Bukhara in modern Uzbekistan. His father, Shah Muhammad Darwaish, was a
preacher in a village mosque and a
teacher. His father later got a job in
Pandoke, about 50 miles southeast of
Kasur. Bulleh Shah received higher
education and became a student of the
prominent professors Ghulam Murtaza
and Maulana Mohiyuddin. His
spiritual teacher was the eminent Sufi
saint, Shah Inayat Qadri .

A large measure of what is known

about Bulleh Shah comes through
legends, and to that extent it is
subjective. He has himself contributed
a brief sketch of his life through his
writings. Other “facts” seem to have
been passed down through oral
traditions. Bulleh Shah practiced the
Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry
established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538 – 1599), Sultan Bahu (1629 –
1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640 – 1724). Bulleh Shah was a contemporary of the
famous Sindhi Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhatai (1689 – 1752), the legendary
Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722 – 1798), of Heer Ranjha fame, and the illustrious
Sindhi Sufi poet Abdul Wahad (1739 – 1829), better known by his pen-name,
Sachal Sarmast (“truth seeking leader of the intoxicated ones”), and Mir Taqi
Mir (1723 – 1810) of Agra. He died in 1758 at the age of 77, and his tomb is
located in Kasur, Pakistan. He was a poet, humanist and a philosopher.

3.5.1 Bulleh Shah, an Apostle of Peace

Bulleh Shah was born at a time when the communal strife between Sikhs and
Muslims was high. He incurred the wrath of Muslims when he condemned the
murder of an innocent Sikh in retaliation for the murder of a few Muslims by
Sikhs. Violence, Bulleh Shah said, cannot be quelled by violence; on the contrary,
violence engendered violence. Similarly he counseled the Sikhs to give up their
campaign of hatred against the Muslims. But for his unorthodox advocacy of
peace and harmony among Hindus and Muslims, the Muslim clergy (the mullahs)
decreed that Bulleh Shah should not be given burial.

He was an apostle of peace which makes him a humanist. It is important to note

that even if one is a mystic, in search of God, s/he can also be a humanist, one
whose life is based on reason and common humanity, one who recognizes that
moral values are to be founded on human nature and experience alone and who
seeks solutions to the problems of fellow human beings in the world around her/
him. Bulleh Shah also hailed Guru Tegh Bahadur as a Ghazi (an Islamic title
given to a religious Muslim warrior).
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Plurality and Cultural Bulleh Shah’s writings represent him as a humanist, someone providing solutions
Diversity
to the sociological problems of the world around him even as he was constantly
searching for God. His poetry highlights his mystical spiritual voyage through
the four stages of Sufism: Shariat (exoteric path or external knowledge), Tariqat
( esoteric path or internal knowledge), Haqiqa (mystical truth) and Marifa
(mystical truth). Bulleh Shah has been able to address the complex fundamental
issues of life and humanity. Thus, many people have put his kafis to music, from
humble street-singers to renowned Sufi singers like the Waddali Brothers and
Abida Parveen, from the synthesized techno qawwali remixes of UK-based Asian
artists to the rock band Junoon. Bulleh Shah’s popularity stretches uniformly
across Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, to the point that much of the written material
about this Muslim thinker is from Hindu and Sikh sources. Modern renditions
can be listened to in the songs Chhayya Chayya and Thayya Thayya.

Activity 8

Why is Bulleh Shah considered to be a humanist?

3.6 KAFI, A FORM OF SUFI POETRY

As a poet, Bulleh Shah wrote Kafis. Let us first understand what we mean by
Kafi.

Kafi is a classical form of Sufi poetry in the Punjabi and Sindhi languages which
flourished from the 14th to the 16th C. This period is known as the golden age of
Punjabi Sufi poetry. The verse form which Bulleh Shah primarily employed is a
style of Punjabi, Sindhi and Siraiki poetry used not only by the Sufis of Sindh
and Punjab, but also by Sikh gurus. The main theme of Kafi is the dialogue
between the Soul and the Oversoul - the created and the Creator. This is
symbolized by the dialogue between the disciple and his master (murid and
Murshid) , between the lover and his beloved. The latter translates into heroic
and romantic tales that stand as a metaphor for mystical truths, and spiritual
longing.

The Kafi is a poem in four stanzas - a musical composition with a rhyme scheme
and a refrain which is meant to be sung. Some say that the word Kafi has come
from the Sanskrit word kav (poetry) and kama (sensuality). But this does not
deny the possibility of its origin from the Arabic words kamil (perfection) and
kafa (grouping). Some believe that the word Kafi is derived from the Arabic
Kafa which means a group. The word kafi is also identified by many through a
raga in Indian classical music after which a thaat (the head of many ragas) is
named.

3.6.1 The Kafi Tradition

Punjab had its own literary tradition which was started by Fariduddin
Ganjshakar(1173-1266) . He was the first Punjabi Sufi poet whose poetry was
compiled after his death in the Adi Granth. Bulleh Shah practiced the Sufi tradition
of Punjabi poetry established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538 – 1599), Sultan
Bahu (1629 – 1691), and Shah Sharaf (1640 – 1724). Punjabi poetry was used
both by Sufis of Sindh and Punjab as well as by Sikh gurus. In contrast to
Persian poets who had preferred the ghazal for poetic expression, Punjabi Sufi
poets tended to compose in the Kafi.
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Sufi poetry continued even after the 17th Century with well known poets like Bhakti and Sufi Movements
in Medieval India
Waris Shah (known for his great work Heer Ranjha; Sachal Sarmast, (1739-
1829) a Sindhi Sufi poet who wrote musical Kalam, discussions and debates
relating to Islamic theology as well as Kafis; Mian Muhammad Baksh, a Kashmiri
Sufi poet (1830-1907),known for his Sohni Mahival, and the multi lingual
Khawaja Ghulam Farid (1645-1901), known for his lyrics of ecstasy.

3.7 ‘KAFI 7’ BY BULLEH SHAH

Bulleya Ki Jaana Main Kaun
Bulleya to me, I am not known
Say Bulla, I know not who I am
I am neither a believer going to a mosque
Nor am I given to non-believer’s ways
I am neither clean nor unclean
Neither a Moses nor a Pharaoh
I know not who I am
Neither among the sinners nor the saints
I am neither happy nor unhappy
I belong neither to water nor to the earth
I am neither fire nor air
I know not who I am
Neither I know the secrets of religion
Nor am I born of Adam and Eve
I have given myself no name
I know not who I am
I belong neither to those who squat,
Nor those who are given to wandering
I know not who I am
I was in the beginning, I would be there in the end
Who could be wiser than me?
None else is primed of this secret
(Though) I know not who I am
(Translated by K.S.Duggal)

3.8 ANALYSIS OF THE POEM

The poem has a refrain “I know not who I am.” and seeks to unravel this riddle.
The riddle is one of the eternal and unsolved questions common to us all, relating
to one’s identity. Can any one of us give an answer to the question “Who am I?”

The poet has the name Bulleh Shah, but he wants to know, who is Bulleh Shah?
The self that answers the question as to who Bulleh Shah is, relates only to the
externalities. The Self that is deep within all of us is not known to us, as no one
born in this world knows where s/he came from, why they have been born, what 35
Plurality and Cultural is the purpose of their coming into the world and where they will go after death.
Diversity
It is a mystery to which none of our externalities - attributes, character, relationship
with others, daily existence comprising words and actions - provide the crucial
answer to the questions raised above whose purpose is to identify the inner,
deeper or the true Self.

Bulleh Shah says the name he subscribes to is the name given to him by his
parents but they are not and cannot be his true parents as they also do not know
who they are and where they had come from. But the truth is we all come from
God, who is our true parent.

The answer to the riddle ‘who am I‘ cannot be derived from our external attributes
such as being a believer or a non believer, a sinner or a pious person, a slave
driver like Pharaoh or a liberator like Moses…

The only answer to the riddle “Who am I” is: “I know I am ‘i’ but do not know
who the ‘I’ is, as the ‘I’, the inner Self, permeates and overarches the external
self ‘i ‘(Kindly note the distinction between “I” and “i”)

The poet then says “I know not who I am … Nor am I born of Adam and Eve”
All of us know only our earthly parents - but not God, our original ancestor, who
had created Adam and Eve and is, in that sense, the progenitor. The logical
reasoning for his ignorance about his identity is through yet another denial:

I belong neither to water nor to the earth

I am neither fire nor air
As human beings, we are aware of the five prime elements of Nature (pancha
bootham) - air, water, earth, fire and space (vayu, jal, bhu, agni and akash), but
we go far beyond these five perceivable elements. In this context, it would be
interesting to compare these lines with lines from the 19th C poet Wordsworth
who comes nearly six centuries later:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting…
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy! (“Ode on Intimations of Immortality”)
Bulleh Shah offers yet one more reason as to why he does not know who he is:
I belong neither to those who squat,
Nor those who are given to
wandering
Whether he is moving about, active and mobile or whether he is rooted to one
place, passive and immobile, neither of the two states will give him the answer
as to who he is.

The last four lines state that the True Self has neither a beginning nor an end as
it is eternal.

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 I was in the beginning, I would be there in the end Bhakti and Sufi Movements
in Medieval India
Who could be wiser than me?
None else is primed of this secret
(Though) I know not who I am
When he has listed the reasons as to why he does not know his true identity, he
asks who else can know the secret of one’s birth, existence and death.

Activity 9
What does Bulleh Shah say about the ‘I’?

3.9 UNITY OF BEING: MEETING OF ADVAITA AND

SUFI PHILOSOPHY
This poem is a good example of the Unity of Being (Wahat-ul-Wajud), the concept
of mystical Sufis and which, as the phrase suggests, is about Monotheism of
Existence. Wujud (i.e. existence) here refers to Allah’s Wujud - where God and
his creation are not separate but one. Wujud is the unique Reality from which all
reality derives. The external world of reality consisting of tangible and sensible
objects is but a fleeting shadow of the Real (al- Haq), God - the eternal reality.
Whatever exists is the shadow (tajalli) of the Real and is not independent of
God. Advaita Vedanta and Sufism meet here and can be seen as the parallel of
modern psychological theory of the Collective Unconscious. Advaita means
‘Non-Dual’ which refers to the tradition’s absolute monism. Two specific passages
from the Chandogya Upanishad provide a valuable insight into the foundation
of the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta that parallels Sufi metaphysics:

In the beginning, this world was just Being [i.e. Brahman] – one only, without a
second ... And it thought to itself ‘Let me become many; let me multiply myself.
(Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.1-3)

By means of just one lump of clay, everything made of clay can be known: any
modifications are merely verbal distinctions, names; the reality is just clay.
(Chandogya Upanishad 6.1.4)

The unity between the true self and universal reality is indicated by the Sanskrit
language phrase tat tvam asi – you are that, i.e. you are that highest reality,
Brahman.

The Pantheistic monism of advaita and wahdat-al-wujud of the Sufis are

different expressions of the same view about Divinity, Man and the Universe.

The whole unity of the poem is to establish the impossibility of knowing one’s
true identity except for the fact that the “I” or the Soul is one with the Oversoul
- the merging of human consciousness with the divine consciousness, beyond
institutionalized facts of externalities.

Throughout ‘Kafi 7’ Bulleh Shah keeps giving examples using two poles namely
“neither”/ “nor” to reason why he cannot know his identity beyond what is known
to the world he is born into. This question, while it is addressed to himself,
37
Plurality and Cultural Bulleya, is also addressed to every other human being as an extension of himself,
Diversity
an understanding that it is common to all...

In 'Kafi 7' Bulleh Shah uses symbols which show his depth of learning. These
symbols, like Mosque, Adam and Eve, Moses, Pharaoh, purity and impurity, are
taken from various religions which make this poem a secular text, beyond religions
and outward symbols.

3.10 LET US SUM UP

This unit introduced you to a sample of devotional poetry of the medieval period
of the Sufi tradition, composed by Bulleh Shah (Punjabi Sufi). We also discussed
the Bhakti and Sufi traditions and saw how the compositions of varied poets
from both traditions serve to emphasise the concept of India’s plurality that has
a strong thread of common thought and sentiment running through them. We
could also see how the Advaita and Sufi traditions echo each other when it comes
to philosophical concepts dealing with existence.

3.11 Aids to Activities

Activity 1: It mentions the word Bhakti and sets out what the word denotes.
Activity 2: Meera, Mahadevi Akka, Kabir were some of the poets. They can
be accessed in the original through a variety of Indian languages.
Activity 3: It focused on relationship between devotee and the Almighty;
emphasis on devotion; freedom to worship in whatever manner they
chose.
Activity 4: Starting from the South of India, the movement gradually spread to
all the corners of the country.
Activity 5: The two movements went beyond religion and offered a social
message.
Activity 6: Compassion and sympathy for the downtrodden and the poor.
Activity 7: Both speak of a god who is formless, cannot be seen with human
eyes and unique.
Activity 8: Attempts to provide solutions to sociological problems even while
seeking God.
Activity 9: The True “I” goes beyond all the externalities and is a mystery.

3.12 GLOSSARY
Adam and Eve : according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic
religions, Adam and Eve were the first man and
woman and the ancestors of all humans

Collective Unconscious : theory of Carl Jung, who relates it to a part of the

unconscious mind, shared by a society, a people,
or all humankind, that is the product of ancestral
experience

Ghazi : an Islamic term for a religious warrior

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Humanist : one who has a strong concern for human welfare, Bhakti and Sufi Movements
in Medieval India
values and dignity

Monotheism of Existence : the belief in the existence of only one god that
created the world

Moses : a Hebrew prophet in 1300 BCE (before the

Common Era or BC) who delivered his people,
the Jews, from slavery under one of the Egyptian
Pharaohs. He led them to the Holy Land that
God had promised them. Moses led the Exodus
(in the Bible, the departure of the Israelites from
Egypt) of the Jews out of Egypt and across the
Red Sea, after which they based themselves at
Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten
Commandments

Old Testament : the first of the two main divisions of the Christian
Bible, corresponding to the Hebrew Scriptures as
distinguished in Christianity from the dispensation
of Jesus constituting the New Testament

Pantheistic : the belief that reality is identical with Divinity

Pharaoh : common title of the monarchs of ancient Egypt

from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BCE) until the
annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in 30
BCE ... Moses delivered The Jews from the
slavery of Pharaoh Thutmose II (1493-1479BC),
the fourth ruler of the 18th dynasty of Egypt

Primed : be fully prepared

Refrain : A comment or statement that is repeated

The Ten Commandments : Said to be given by God and were meant to serve
as principles of moral behaviour for the people.
They form the foundation of the moral code and
legal system of justice for Western Christian
civilization. Moses founded the religious
community known as Israel. “In the Judaic
tradition, he is revered as the greatest prophet and
teacher, and Judaism has sometimes loosely been
called Mosaism, or the Mosaic faith, in Western
Christendom. His influence continues to be felt
in the religious life, moral concerns, and social
ethics of Western civilization, and therein lies his
undying significance.

3.13 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) What is the meaning of Bhakti in Hinduism? How is the word used in the
Bhagvad Geeta?
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Plurality and Cultural 2) What contributed to the fall of the Mughal Empire and why was Islam hostile
Diversity
to Hinduism?
3) Why is the Bhakti movement known as a socio-religious movement?
4) How did the Hindu and Muslim sects come together?
5) What is Kafi? List the elements of the Kafi style in Bulleh Shah’s poem
given in this unit.
6) Bulleh Shah is known to be an apostle of peace and a humanist. From the
brief biography given above, illustrate how he is both a pacifist and a
humanist.
7) Why does Bulleh Shah say he cannot know his identity?
8) Attempt a summary of the poem ‘Kafi 7’
9) Comment on the effective use of the two words “neither’ and ‘nor’ in Bulleh
Shah’s poem.
10) How do you think Bulleh Shah is representative of the Bhakti/Sufi
movements?

3.14 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READING

1) Chopra, RM. Great Sufi Poets of the Punjab, Iran Society, Calcutta, 1999.
2) Hawley, John. A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement,
Harvard University Press, 2015.
3) History of Sufi poets, folkpunjab.blogspot.com
4) Kishwar, Madhu. “Women Bhakta Poets”. Manushi, Manushi Publications,
1989.
5) Puri, JR. Bulleh Shah: The Love-Intoxicated Iconoclast, Radha Soami
Satsang Beas, 1986.
6) Schomer, Karine and McLeod, W. H. (eds). The Sants: Studies in a
Devotional Tradition of India, Motilal Banarsidass, 1987.
7) Shvetashvatara Upanishad. San.beck.org.
8) Smith, Paul. Bhakti Poetry of India: An Anthology, Createspace Independent
Pub, 2013

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